The great war of the three kingdoms lasted for twenty-five years, and the beauty of the Yan family was still there, but Lü Bu's heart was uneasy.

  Lü Bu was facing a brocade painting of the structure of armor, but unfortunately he wasn't the material for designing, and after drawing for half a day, he still couldn't draw out a decent picture.

  Yanni had just finished washing up and saw Lü Bu painting something from the afternoon, but it was still not done even after dark. She wiped her hair and walked over, furrowed her brow at what Lü Bu painted and asked: "What are you painting?"

  Lü Bu said, "Leather armor. I've been thinking that since we have a good supply of cowhide, if we give our soldiers leather armor, it can effectively protect their lives. When I was a soldier, I didn't fully understand the meaning of war. But after the Battle of Shouchun, I realized that war is not child's play. Any carelessness or mistake can cost lives. War is a matter of life and death, so protecting our soldiers' lives is also protecting our own lives. Forget about bulletproof vests, chain mail is out of the question, and even iron armor we can't make right now. Moreover, metal armor is cumbersome and not a good choice. Leather armor is easy to make. However, ordinary leather armor can only provide some degree of protection, but once it encounters strong destructive force, it's almost meaningless. So I want to add another layer of wooden armor made from hardwood inside the leather armor, which can greatly reduce the killing power with this buffer layer. If we use sheepskin as the inner layer, that would be even better. Sheepskin is soft and won't affect the soldiers' movements. Sheepskin, cowhide, and hardwood are all relatively easy to find, most importantly, they're lightweight. It's just my clumsy hands can't design it no matter how hard I try." After finishing speaking, Lü Bu looked up at Yan Ni with a silly expression. He now had a deeper understanding of her.

  Yanni smoothed her hair and said: "I'll come and see what you're drawing. I thought it was a map."

  Lü Bu knew that Yan Ni was designing, so he assisted on the side, watching Yan Ni's hands move swiftly as she drew, and demanded: "The wooden plates must not exceed one inch in size, all four sides must have holes drilled into them, and they should be tied together with thin ropes. The wooden armor should mainly protect the important parts of the body."

  Lü Bu knelt down beside Yan Ni. Yan Ni had just finished washing up, and her body emitted a faint fragrance. As Lü Bu spoke, his body unconsciously leaned in closer, his thoughts becoming muddled, and his words began to slur: "Right... the wool pulled from the sheepskin... has it all been sorted out? We need to make as many clothes as possible quickly... or else many people will freeze to death..." As he spoke, Lü Bu's lips involuntarily pressed against Yan Ni's right shoulder.

  "Don't worry, these things can't bring me down, I've already...". Xian Ni started to respond, but gradually felt something was off. Seeing Lü Bu kiss her shoulder, she was startled. Hurriedly throwing away the brush, she stood up and said: "I'm a bit tired today, let's paint again another day."

  Lü Bu wouldn't let go, and with a hug, he held Yan Ni in his arms, and she became unwell. Yan Ni was furious, softly scolding: "You rascal, I helped you with so many things with good intentions, and this is how you repay me? Let go! Pervert! Bastard."

  Lü Bu had been busy every day since the Xianbei invasion, and now that he finally had some free time, he noticed Yan Ni again. He wouldn't let her go so easily. With a swift motion, he pinned Yan Ni under him, his hands tearing at her clothes. As he kissed her wildly, he laughed lewdly: "Hehe... even if the sky falls, you won't be able to escape my grasp. Do you know that from the moment I saw you, you became the object of my lustful desires? Hehe..."

  Yan Ni was furious, originally seeing him protecting Shuo Fang, the citizens of the city all regarded him as a hero, and she herself had slowly changed her opinion of him. Who would have thought that this guy would now show his true colors again? Unfortunately, it's no use saying anything now, she was so angry that tears were streaming down her face, softly crying: "Don't... don't. Let go quickly."

  Lü Bu's hands moved in tandem with his mouth, one hand reaching down to explore Yan Ni's private parts. Suddenly, he felt something was off and stopped, asking: "What is this thing?"

  Yanni's face turned red with shame, she turned her head to one side and cursed: "Bastard, let go quickly, not tonight."

  Lü Bu also thought of something, but he was unwilling. He reached into his palm again and gently pulled out the thing in his hand. It turned out that Lü Bu had pulled out a white cloth from Xun Yu's crotch, with bloodstains on it, and his own palm was also stained red. When Lü Bu saw this, the depression in his heart rushed straight to his brain, and his mood plummeted. He said gloomily: "This is really unlucky." As he spoke, he stood up and adjusted his clothes.

  A faint curse from Yan Ni's voice came into his ears: "Bastard, damn it, what a **."

  Lü Bu was sullen for a moment, then laughed and said: "Hehehe. Tonight I'll see your skills, next time you won't be able to escape." He then went out the door to wash his hands.

  Behind her were all sorts of curses and scolding from Yan Ni.

  It was night. A heavy snow fell in Shuo Fang.

  On the second day, when people went out of their houses in Shuofang City, they cheered and shouted: "It's going to snow heavily... It's going to snow heavily..."

  Heavy snow means that the Xianbei raids this year are nearing an end, and soon the Xianbei will return to the north of the desert. Because if the Xianbei do not quickly return after the heavy snow, the long cold winter days will cause the snow to accumulate thickly, leaving the Xianbei with nowhere to take shelter from the cold, and there is a risk that the entire army will freeze to death. Therefore, regardless of whether their raids have yielded any gains or not, the Xianbei army will return to the north of the desert after the heavy snow.

  The heavy snow was a symbol of the Xianbei people's return home, but for Lü Bu, it was an opportunity to launch a surprise attack. Once the Xianbei army returned to the north of the Great Wall, those Xianbei tribes that were not far from Shuofang would become isolated and vulnerable. However, Lü Bu did not rush to launch a surprise attack. Firstly, he was still unclear about the weather conditions in Shuofang and did not know how long the snow would last or how thick it would be, or whether it would affect the marching route of the Shuofang army. Secondly, the Xianbei tribes would certainly also mobilize their able-bodied men to join the surprise attack, and they would obviously wait for their relatives to return. Moreover, nomadic migrations only took place during the thawing period in spring or autumn. Migrating during winter was extremely unwise. Therefore, Lü Bu waited for the opportunity, waiting for the Xianbei army to return to the north of the Great Wall, waiting for the Shuofang army to become more mature through training, and waiting for more equipment and armor to be prepared.

  In the fourth year of Guangwu, at the end of October, tens of thousands of Xianbei soldiers all returned to the north of the desert. Lü Bu led two battalions of soldiers, a total of 250 cavalrymen, out of Shuofang, heading northwest to plunder the Xianbei nomads. He left Gao Shun with one battalion to guard Shuofang. There were only about 70 or 80 Xianbei nomads in this area. When they raided the border, more than 20 strong and capable men all went to plunder Shuofang, but died under the city walls of Shuofang. Only over 50 old, weak, women, and children were left behind, how could they resist Lü Bu's 250 cavalrymen? It was only when Zhang Wang's relatives returned that they saw hellish demons coming towards them, and in an instant, they were all slaughtered, without even seeing what Lü Bu looked like. Lü Bu's army marched for two days, and by noon, they had plundered over ten horses, 300-400 heads of cattle and sheep, without a single casualty. On the third day, at nightfall, they returned to Shuofang.

  In the eleventh month of Guangxi 4, Lü Bu led 250 cavalry again, leaving Zhang Ba to guard the city. At this time, all of Lü Bu's cavalry were equipped with double stirrups, wooden saddles carved from rattan wood, three-layered armor made of wood and leather, rattan bows and crossbows, iron-headed long spears, and knives. Even the boots worn by the soldiers were made of sheepskin. The people of Shuofang all took pride in being part of the Shuofang cavalry, competing with each other to join the army. Unfortunately, the Shuofang army was well-equipped and treated its soldiers generously, but only chose the strong and healthy, abandoning the old and weak. Those who did not meet the requirements could only sigh as they watched the army depart.